Swim Deep gig review - oh yeah music centre

An air of nostalgia hung around the Oh Yeah
Music Centre in Belfast tonight, matched by a feeling of optimism and hope
brought about by the emergence of 90’s inspired indie outfit “Swim Deep”. The
Birmingham boys, fronted by Austin Williams, were in celebratory mood as they
played the last night of their 17 day tour and opened the show in a similar
fashion.

Having only released two songs to the
public so far, without even an EP to their names, the band have done incredibly
well to build a loyal fan base across Britain. In Belfast however, it seems the
rippling waves of success haven’t yet percolated through as the venue was,
surprisingly only half full. This didn’t seem to discourage the band though, as
a trademark William’s “Woo!” kicked off proceedings. The band played songs from
their eagerly awaited debut album, with most songs filled with swirling guitars
and harmonious vocals, as if someone had taken whale song and added a synth to
it. Fan favourite “Honey” frustratingly came just in time for a technical
difficulty in Williams’ guitar, causing a loud buzzing which would easily have
damaged a lesser bands confidence. Instead it simply highlighted this young
group’s maturity as Williams ditched his guitar and switched to full frontman
mode, playing to the crowd and delivering a great vocal performance. The
highlight of the set came midway through, when a new song was introduced as
being “just for us” as a way of thanking the dedicated Belfast fan base. What followed was an extremely melodic guitar
riff which echoed the sounds of a young Verve, washing over the audience like a
wave and driven by a powerful bass line from Cavan McCarthy. The unreleased tracks name wasn't mentioned,
but it promises to be an extremely strong focal point to the debut album.

The band ended their set and the tour to
another single, grunge-pop tune “King City”, which had the entire venue singing
along to the chorus as the band hit top gear. The effects of constant touring
has clearly taken a lot out of the band and as the final chords rang out
bassist McCartney and Rhythm guitarist Tom Higgins left
the stage as Williams and drummer Zachary Robinson clattered their instruments
in a frenzy and in true Nirvana style continued to trash the stage, knocking
down mics, guitars and the drum kit in the process. It was a wonderful, if
bizarre, end to a great gig and successful tour.

Taylor Johnson.

Swim Deep - Oh Yeah Music Centre
Belfast. 2nd March 2013.

(Drummer Zachary stayed behind to greet fans after the gig! Top bloke!)

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Encore NI is a non profitable music website/media organisation set up to review gigs, albums and singles, owned by Taylor Johnson & based in Belfast's Oh Yeah Centre. We proudly run & operate 'Modern Life Is Rubbish', a gig night with a difference.

Taylor has had work printed in various local and national newspapers, as well as various music websites and publications. To date he has worked and broadcast with the NME, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, Citybeat, Blast 106, BBC Radio Ulster & BBC Radio Foyle. He now co-runs 'Spectrum Festival', a yearly music festival held in The Mandela Hall and has just finished hosting 'Soundscape', a television series on Irish TV (Sky Channel 191) about local music.